Separator device and shot processing apparatus

Abstract

Disclosed is a separator device comprising a suction device to suck in air, and a wind-force sorting mechanism for sorting a mixture to separate projection materials from the mixture, wherein the wind-force sorting mechanism comprises: an airflow passage which extends horizontally from an inlet to an outlet thereof and in which an airflow is generated by suction force of the suction device; a mixture supply port formed on an upper side of a midstream region of the airflow passage; and a sorting section configured to allow a mixture containing projection materials and powdery/granular foreign substances to freely fall from the mixture supply port into the airflow passage to thereby cause the airflow to hit against the mixture so as to sort the mixture into a first group which move beyond a given reference height position, and a second group which fall without moving beyond the reference height position.

1 . A separator device for sorting a mixture containing projection materials and powdery/granular foreign substances to separate the projection materials from the mixture, comprising a suction device to suck in air, and a wind-force sorting mechanism for sorting the mixture to separate the projection materials from the mixture, by means of wind force, wherein the wind-force sorting mechanism comprises:
 an airflow passage which extends horizontally from an inlet to an outlet thereof and in which an airflow is generated by suction force of the suction device provided on the side of the outlet;   a mixture supply port formed on an upper side of a midstream region of the airflow passage; and   a sorting section configured to allow the mixture containing projection materials and powdery/granular foreign substances to freely fall from the mixture supply port into the airflow passage to thereby cause the airflow to hit against the mixture so as to sort the mixture into a first group of pieces which move beyond a given reference height position while being entrained in the airflow, and a second group of pieces which fall without moving beyond the reference height position;   wherein the airflow passage comprises a wind velocity stabilization section formed upstream of the mixture supply port, and configured to have a tube shape in which an area of an airflow passage cross-section taken along a plane orthogonal to a flow direction of the airflow is constant, thereby straightening the airflow and uniforming a velocity distribution of wind supplied toward a downstream side of the airflow passage, in the airflow passage cross-section.   
     
     
         2 . The separator device according to  claim 1 , wherein the sorting section has a narrowed area formed to narrow a lower region of the airflow passage upwardly to reduce the area of the airflow passage cross-section taken along the plane orthogonal to the flow direction of the airflow to become less than that in the wind velocity stabilization section. 
     
     
         3 . The separator device according to  claim 2 , wherein the sorting section has an inclined portion formed to be inclined upwardly toward an upstream side of the airflow passage, and wherein the narrowed area is composed of an end of the inclined portion on the upstream side of the airflow passage. 
     
     
         4 . The separator device according to  claim 1 , wherein the separator device further comprises:
 a discharge section located on an upward side of the mixture supply port and composed of a pair of vertical walls opposed to each other in spaced-apart relation;   a receiving section composed of a pair of inclined walls extending, respectively, from upper ends of the pair of vertical walls in opposite directions away from each other with an upward inclination, wherein the mixture is fed onto the inclined walls; and   a vertical wall-like gate disposed in spaced-apart relation to upper surfaces of respective one ends of the inclined walls on the side of the vertical walls.   
     
     
         5 . The separator device according to  claim 1 , wherein the separator device further comprises: a magnetic-force sorting mechanism provided on an upward side of the mixture supply port of the wind-force sorting mechanism and configured to sort the mixture to separate magnetic projection materials from the mixture, by means of magnetic force, the magnetic-force sorting mechanism comprising:
 a rotary drum formed in a circular hollow cylindrical shape and configured to be rotationally driven in one direction about an axis thereof;   a mixture feeding device to feed the mixture to one lateral zone of the rotary drum;   a magnet fixedly disposed inside the rotary drum at least in a region corresponding to a range extending from the one lateral zone to a lower end position of the rotary drum; and   a guide portion disposed in opposed and spaced-apart relation to the one lateral zone of the rotary drum,   whereby the magnetic-force sorting mechanism is operable to prevent a part of the mixture falling from between the guide portion and the rotary drum before reaching the lower end position of the rotary drum, from being fed to the mixture supply port, and feed, to the mixture supply port, the remaining mixture attracted by magnetic force of the magnet so as to contain the projection materials at an increased rate.   
     
     
         6 . A shot processing apparatus comprising:
 a projector for projecting projection materials to a target object to be processed; and   the separator device recited in  claim 1 , the separator device being provided in a recovery path for recovering the projection materials projected by the projector.